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Thursday, 15-Jul-2004 7:36 PM The fight gets dirtier by the minute; but Ku Li is still one Cool Dude Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (Pak Lah) is not sleeping too well nowadays. The Umno party election is due this September and he would like to be confirmed as the President after warming the seat as the Acting President since the retirement of past-Prime Minister and party president Dr Mahathir Mohamad late last year. Whoever becomes the Umno President automatically becomes Malaysia’s Prime Minister so the post is certainly the most sought after in Malaysia. Pak Lah would like to win the Umno Presidency with the unanimous support of all the 191 party divisions throughout the country. But this may not be as easy as he had hoped it would be, for lurking in the shadows is his onetime mentor and boss, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah (Ku Li). Pak Lah tried to nip in the bud any possible Ku Li challenge by summoning all the division bosses for a meeting where he instructed them to ensure that each of their divisions nominate only him and no one else as President. For Ku Li to mount a challenge, he would need to secure at least 58 nominations. If not he would not qualify. And he already has 68 nominations tucked away in his pocket. When Pak Lah found out he flipped. This will not do. Pak Lah knows if Ku Li challenges him he (Pak Lah) would surely lose. So he must make sure Ku Li does not qualify. And, to do that, he must prevent Ku Li from getting the required number of nominations -- if possible, no nominations at all. But how to ensure Ku Li does not get his required 58 nominations, or worse still, 68 of the nominations already tucked away in his pocket? To do this, Malaysia’s secret police, the Special Branch, were sent to meet all those division members who were known Ku Li supporters to ‘persuade’ them to change their mind. Those who could not be persuaded were served bankruptcy papers at midnight the eve of the division meetings. Once they are served the papers, they could no longer legally attend the meeting and cast their vote in favour of Ku Li the following morning. But Pak Lah wants 191 nominations. He does not want 190, and certainly not 130. And Ku Li would surely get at least one nomination from his own division of Gua Musang. To deny Ku Li even this one nomination, the Biro Tata Negara or BTN (National Civic Bureau, which is actually a propaganda and brainwashing unit) officers have been sent to Gua Musang to meet the division committee members there. Money has changed hands and some of the Gua Musang committee members have already been compromised. Is this enough to ensure Ku Li fails to get that one nomination from his very own division? Maybe not! Many have taken the money but not all will abandon Ku Li. And some have come forward to hand the money over to Ku Li as proof that there was an attempt to buy their vote. Many are now up in arms and want Ku Li to lodge an official complaint with Umno’s disciplinary committee so that Pak Lah can be cited for breaching the party’s Code of Ethics, whereby he would not only be disqualified from contesting but could possibly also be suspended or sacked from the party as well. Some even want Ku Li to report the matter to the Ant-Corruption Agency so that charges of abuse of power could be brought against Pak Lah like what they did to Anwar Ibrahim that resulted in him being sent to jail for six years. But Ku Li will do nothing about it. Be patient, he tells his supporters. And this is most perplexing. In the mid-1980s, Ku Li contested the Presidency and actually won it. But Dr Mahathir cheated and the ‘official’ results showed he had won and Ku Li had lost. And Ku Li, then, also did nothing. He just smiled and walked away, allowing Dr Mahathir to continue as Prime Minister another 16 years or so whereby he managed to almost bankrupt the country. And now Ku Li may, again, be robbed of victory. And still he will not do anything. What is wrong with this man? Well, I suppose it must be his upbringing. Ku Li is a prince from the Royal household of Kelantan and was groomed in the tradition of gentlemen. He was also educated in an environment where not passing exams but character building is of the utmost importance. And this is what differentiates Ku Li from Pak Lah or Dr Mahathir. Ku Li may be a fighter, but he fights using gentleman’s rules, not street brawling the manner of Pak Lah or Dr Mahathir. Just sitting down and talking to Ku Li gives one the distinct impression that this is a man of polish and class. You cannot get that same feeling when interacting with Pak Lah or Dr Mahathir. While Dr Mahathir then, and Pak Lah now, will resort to any and every dirty trick in the book to get what they want, Ku Li will not bring himself down to that level or prostitute himself in any way. So they want to cheat, threaten and bribe their way to victory. Let them do so. Ku Li will not grumble, protest or complain. To do so would give the impression that one is a sore loser. And gentlemen handle defeat as dignified as they handle victory. We must certainly admire Ku Li for his sportsmanship. But how can one uphold the ideals of sportsmanship when the adversary does not recognise the word? But then, that is Ku Li for you. Better one loses fairly than win through fraud. And better one loses with a smile on the face than show displeasure at one’s defeat. Ku Li had better remember; chivalry is now dead. Today, the ends justify the means. And, when one slaps you, you do not turn the other cheek, you claim back an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Or, better still; take out both eyes and all the teeth in the mouth if possible. That is how I would do it. But then I am not Ku Li. I am a Reformist. I am an Anwarist. I take to the streets to seek justice and fair play when I cannot find it in the halls of justice. And let my enemy beware for I fight fire with fire, not water.
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